


Harvest Moon

by PunkHazard



Category: Pacific Rim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 02:59:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkHazard/pseuds/PunkHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unassuming packages start arriving in the Shatterdome mail during the first week of September.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harvest Moon

**Author's Note:**

> It's still Sep 19 on the west coast, okay.

Unassuming packages start arriving in the Shatterdome mail during the first week of September. Most of them are collected by staff-- probably food and letters from family for the PPDC members who couldn't secure leave for the upcoming holiday. 

「Just open it up and have some,」 Jin tells Mako when he catches her hefting a box in her hands, gently shaking one of many parcels addressed to the triplets (she wouldn't risk damaging anyone else's delivery). 「Bakeries send us moon cakes every year so we usually drop them off in the kitchen for the entire dome, or to some people in the city.」

「This one is from Liu,」 Mako says, passing him the tin and a neatly-penned letter after liberating it from its brown paper packaging. 「Does he send them every year?」

「Ah, well. Some we keep.」 Jin nods, taking a screwdriver from his pocket to work at the edges of its cover, prying up one corner and then peeling it back to reveal the cakes themselves. 「You haven't been in Hong Kong for the harvest season, have you?」

「No, we spent most of our time in Japan this time of year.」

「See,」 Hu laughs as he steps into the mail room, Cheung on his heels, 「I told you he got distracted.」

「Mako isn't a distraction,」 Jin shoots back defensively, expression splitting into a grin when his oldest brother hands him a little plastic knife. At no point in their conversation did Mako recall Jin asking his brothers to bring a knife, but she's used to the way they can practically read each other's minds, showing up unbidden with exactly what their brothers need. He cuts a piece in four and offers the tin to the the rest of the group. 「Dates with yolk, I think. Other ones are sesame, lotus root and... red bean?」

Hu and Cheung give him a look, as if they have no idea why he's bothering to explain things they already know, but he cants his head slightly toward Mako, who's begun cautiously to eat.

It's rich, probably too much even for a kid with a sweet tooth, and Mako finishes her section but declines another. 「Yeah,」 Hu says, tucking the tin under his arm and ducking out of the mailroom, 「Cheung can't handle more than that either.」

「It's good,」 Mako reassures them. 「Just... very sweet.」

They make a left at the fork, Hu leading the way to the canteen where the Kaidanovskys are perched on a table with their feet on a bench. Lunch has been over for hours, so the place is empty otherwise. Mako assumes the Russians have been waiting; Sasha raises a hand in greeting while they trot down the steps. Cheung tells her, 「Jin used to just pry out the yolk in the middle and leave the rest for us.」 

「Yeah, he's pretty disgusting.」

「Don't listen to them, they'll corrupt you.」

"Late," Aleksis informs the triplets as they draw up to the table. 

"Jin held us up," Hu answers, nonchalantly throwing his brother under the proverbial bus, "but we brought something for you to try." He sets the box of mooncake onto the table once the Kaidanovskys clear it and shift to the bench.

"Good timing," someone else says from the doorway to the kitchen, "it's a Korean holiday too." So-yi grins at the congregation with a large bowl of some sticky, multi-colored pieces of rice cake in her hands, sets it on the table next to the triplets' tin and joins the them on the bench. Yuna slides two bottles of soju across the table for Aleksis to uncap while Hu grabs a few glasses out of the cabinet.

"It's called 'songpyeon'," Yuna says, taking a piece and popping it into her mouth. "We had them imported."

Jin leans over the table, looks Nova Hyperion's pilots over and motions vaguely at their civvies, dark colors a stark contrast from their usual white jumpsuits. 「When did you guys get out of the hospital?」

「Last week,」 Yuna says, pouring herself a half-glass of soju, then motioning for Hu to extend his cup. She and So-yi both look tired, still worse for wear after their final drop, but a good sight better than most pilots after their Jaeger's files have been stamped Destroyed In Combat. 

「Welcome back to the world of voluntary peeing,」 Hu says, flashing them a sympathetic grin and raising his glass. His brothers and the Kaidanovskys follow suit until Yuna and So-yi return the gesture, all seven pilots clinking their glasses. 「Nova Hyperion had a great run.」

「Speaking of catheters,」 So-yi grumbles, helping herself to a sliver of the already-cut mooncake, then splitting the other three into eighths, 「did you know they just stick it _right up_ \--」

Jin slaps the table. 「Yeah, it hurts! I'd rather be unconscious--」

「Hey,」 Cheung interrupts, speaking around a piece of sesame songpyeon with the absolute knowledge that all of them have had the unenviable experience of at least one extended hospital stay, 「we're eating.」

"I need to make a few calls before we head out," Hu chimes in, moving to the other table with a notepad and pen, phone already in his hand. "My brothers and I need to visit a few people around town, so we won't be able to escort the Lieutenants but we have some friends who can take you around."

Aleksis grunts in acknowledgement. Sasha gives him a nod, and they both pour themselves more soju, content to listen to the younger pilots chatter in lieu of blasting Ukrainian hard house.

「You're going into the city?」 

「Yeah. You two should come if you're up for it.」 Cheung regards his glass for a few seconds before downing it, grimacing as it burns its way down his throat, but he drowns the taste away with another slice of mooncake. 「Mako too. Hong Kong really lights up for the Mid-Autumn Festival.」

Mako never really did get the hang of turning down the Wei brothers and their crooked, mischievous grins. Neither (apparently) did either of Nova Hyperion's pilots.

They double up on bikes to Hong Kong-- Cheung and Jin on Cheung's, the Kaidanovskys on Hu's bike and Hu on Jin's with So-yi. Yuna rides with Mako, leans into all the turns and compliments her on her handling when they finally arrive in Bone District, Cheung leading the way into their usual garage. It's empty, mostly, rest of the clan celebrating with the rest of the city, but Liu saunters out of his office, tie red to offset his usual somber look.

He briefly disappears under a swarm of triplets, high-fives Mako and greets So-yi and Yuna before texting someone.

"Be careful," Hu cheerfully warns the Kaidanovskys over the sound of firecrackers going off outside (they're illegal, but police don't wander into Bone District; there's a bucket of water on every corner anyway), "this crowd will not part even for Russians."

Liu politely, though somewhat apprehensively, shakes Aleksis's hand. "Welcome to Hong Kong," he says, moving on to Sasha, "it's a pleasure to meet you both. I trust my brothers have made your stay in the Shatterdome comfortable?"

"Brothers?"

"We're not related, but he is our brother, Lieutenant."

"I see," Sasha says, turning a sly smile on the triplets, "so this is where you learned your good manners."

Liu laughs, quickly catching onto the group dynamic and slotting himself effortlessly into it. "I don't think so. They were never this polite to me."

"Maybe if you ever piloted a Jaeger," Cheung teases back, "we would have reason to be."

"Ah, of course. How presumptuous of me to think that supplying your Dome with food made me worthy of respect." 

"That's right, you let running Hong Kong go to your head. You should be ashamed, _dai lo_."

「Alright, get out of here. I'll make sure our guests eat like kings and hit all the sites.」

\--Lieutenants,-- Hu calls after the Kaidanovskys as Liu leads them away, --take it easy on him, yes? He's family.--

「You have to visit people,」 Yuna confirms with Hu, then turns to Cheung. 「So-yi and I will be fine on our own. You know how to reach us.」

「Mako?」

「I'll go with you.」 

The next few hours pass in a lantern-red haze of food pressed into her hands, pinched cheeks, comments about how much she's grown and Weis desperately asking wrinkly little grannies to save food for themselves-- there's plenty in the Shatterdome. (They'd counter that if food were so plentiful, the triplets shouldn't be so skinny and the brothers'd argue the difference between 'thin,' 'healthy,' and 'built like Roman statues are carved' but they promise instead to eat better. It's a complicated ritual.)

When they finally hit the center square in Tai Hang to watch the dragon dance-- three red and gold ones dipping, winding and crossing each other in a complicated, sinuous pattern-- Mako can barely feel her feet. She gets to watch the performance in peace, but a crowd of children begins to collect around the triplets, bearing toys and markers and notebooks, which they dutifully sign. 

Three smaller, skinnier kids get shunted out of the way when the other children push to the front of the audience, a slightly older boy hanging tightly to his younger brother and sister's hands. Mako almost times her watch to the seconds between Jin seeing it happen, the triplets exchanging a glance and moving forward, all three crouching in unison to look them in the face.

「You want to watch the dragon dance?」 Hu asks the oldest boy, who nods.

「You can't see from down here,」 Cheung says easily, swinging the girl onto his shoulders while Jin lifts the older boy onto Hu's and scoops up the youngest. They rise above the heads of other locals, a few foreigners, joining the ranks of dozens of other children perched on the shoulders of their parents, or older siblings. 

The kids are immediately entranced by the show. Hu's talking to his charge, who replies absently, and Mako's standing close enough to hear him tell his brothers, 「This one's Zhu.」

「I've got Mimi.」

「Baby bro's Eng.」

Hu switches abruptly to English, practically hissing under his breath, "He says they live in the Bone Slums."

"Ah-- shit, no wonder they're so small. Parents around?"

"Barely. Working all the time. You know."

Jin taps his kid on the knee, grinning up as he asks, 「You hungry?」

They get three slow, wide-eyed nods. 

「Oh, yeah?」 Hu's tone is light and cheerful, but the tension in his expression is hard to miss-- unless maybe you're sitting on his shoulders. 「So are we. Let's get some food, the show will go on for a while.」

She doesn't want to think it, not really. Jaeger pilots make it a point not to dwell on the future, or talk about it, and the triplets especially excel at living in the moment, giving in to their impulses whenever they strike. Still, Mako thinks, _They would probably make good fathers,_ and _Hu would be the understanding type_ and _Jin would spoil them rotten_ and _If Cheung has a child the poor kid will never find anyone who'd treat them as well as their dad and uncles_. Mako would know; her father is the Marshal of the PPDC, and everyone else seems to pale in comparison.

Later, when the little girl has finished no fewer than five servings of chicken and lamb on a stick, dropped her last cleaned skewer of quail eggs down Cheung's shirt, fallen asleep and begun to drool on his head, Mako takes a napkin and swipes it across Cheung's temple, smiling back when he mouths _あ・り・が・と・う_ to her, eyes rolling toward the sky in an expression of abject defeat. He doesn't have the heart to wake her up. 

Still later, when Hu wanders back over with a bucket of fried chicken pieces in his arms and the boy on his shoulders gnawing on a pork bun, Zhu wakes his sister and loudly demands that both of them be set back down on the ground so they can find his little brother. Jin melts out of the crowd as if summoned, kid squirming under his arm with a cup of bubble tea.

「Couldn't find a grocery store open at this hour,」 Hu says in response to his brothers' looks, but the children don't seem to mind, all three of them stuffed for the moment on street snacks. 「Got their address, though. Gave some of our guys a call.」

「I didn't expect you three to be good with kids,」 So-yi chirps when they reunite, punching Jin on the shoulder. She'd seen them from across the street during the parade; the Wei brothers are hard to miss, they're so much taller than most people in the city. 「Maybe it's because you're just a bunch of big babies yourselves.」

「Please don't hold being young at heart against us,」 Hu laughs, pretending to boot the boy away when he and his siblings disappear back into the crowd, waving over their shoulders. Mako would have suggested searching for their parents, but reconsiders when she catches Cheung looking into the cluster of people long after the kids have already scattered.

「Hey,」 he says during a lull in the conversation, sounds of the parade fading down the street as the crowd begins to disperse, 「I'm kinda tired. You're all going to be fine out here?」

「It's almost eleven,」 Hu cuts in immediately, already pulling out his phone to text the Kaidanovskys, 「we should head back anyway.」

「I'm pretty sure we've already done everything worth doing tonight,」 So-yi says helpfully, taking a piece of chicken from the bucket Hu offers her and popping it into her mouth. 「And it's safer for everyone to go together, right?」

「First of all, you haven't even seen half of Hong Kong,」 Jin interrupts, indignant, 「but we've done the holiday stuff, and everything else will still be here tomorrow. Barring a kaiju attack.」 He artfully dodges both elbows swung in his direction by irritated and callous older brothers who have no appreciation for the fact that they've been kaiju free for weeks now.

「Liu's going to drop the lieutenants off later,」 Hu says, smiling down at his screen, 「they're on the harbor for some couple thing. You two can take my bike, I'll ride with Jin.」

The Marshal greets them in the Shatterdome garage, arriving moments after they've all parked and stowed away their gear. He nods at Mako, who immediately falls into step beside him, looks over her shoulder and prompts the rest of the group to follow. Pentecost takes them to the highest floor, where a porthole leads out onto the Dome's roof, and leaves them with Mako.

「In Japan,」 she says, clambering up the steel ladder and then liftng herself through the exit, 「this holiday is called 'Tsukimi'.」

「Oh,」 Yuna says as she follows suit, 「moon viewing.」

「Yes.」

Hong Kong is across the bay, far enough that the city lights begin to blend behind a thin shroud of mist, but there's a blanket laid over the metal sheeting, enough space for a dozen people to sit, so all six of them spread out comfortably over the space. Hu's the first to notice a plate of white mochi, and he takes one off the top of the little pyramid they've been stacked in. 「And this is-- dango, right?」

Mako nods, crosses her arms over her knees and cranes her head back to look at the moon, squinting to pick out its craters. 「There's usually more food, but I don't think anyone can handle it right now.」

「Yeah,」 Jin laughs, 「we're about to explode as it is. But give me some.」

Pentecost joins them later, and sits down pointedly between her and Cheung. She doesn't even know what he's worried about; the triplets have dropped enough hints that she shouldn't get attached to any of them that she's sure any extra intervention is unnecessary at this point.

So-yi takes a dango, sticks it to the side of Yuna's face, pulls it away and pushes it at her until Yuna finally takes a bite out of it, just barely missing her co-pilot's fingers. There's a peal of laugher from their corner and Mako looks over, watches So-yi hook her arm through Yuna's and then point to a light flickering in the bay.

Jin's sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, chin nestled snugly into an elbow, his other arm looped over Cheung's waist. Hu looks asleep, sprawled on his back with both arms crossed behind his head, but he's kicked off his shoes and pushed one foot under his older brother's leg, ankle brushing Jin's knuckles.

Pentecost doesn't move away when Mako lets her head drop onto his shoulder, even though she's doing it in the company of pilots, people who should only see the Marshal as their lodestar and never a man with a daughter. Not that he'd ever been successful on that last point.

「Sensei,」 Mako says quietly, thinking of all the Shatterdomes she's lived in that are dark now, all the pilots she'd known, each Jaeger whose parts she'd calibrated and welded and riveted, each time a Jaeger fell and she'd wondered if the maintenance team had missed something, somehow. 「I'm glad we're here.」

It's not Japan, but it feels like home.


End file.
